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GoGo Penguin: Ocean in a Drop
Where William Blake saw the world in a grain of sand, and Rumi wrote that each person is not a drop in an ocean but rather the opposite, GoGo Penguin's ever-expanding sonic world hints at similar multitudes yet to be experienced. It rarely sounds like “just" piano, bass and drums in these hands, and the scope of Ocean in a Drop doesn't feel limited by the brevity of its EP length. They hit the ground running and pack an expansive ...
read moreKiki Valera: Vivencias En Clave Cubana
Son Cubano is a genre of music and dance originating from the hill country of eastern Cuba during the 19th century. Its origins are a blend of African and Spanish influences. Son vocal style and meter are of Spanish tradition, while its identifiable clave rhythm, call and response, and percussive elements are of Bantu origin. Over the past century, the form has evolved, spreading its influence as the music was performed internationally by touring musicians. It manifested itself ...
read morePaula Harris: Speakeasy
At first blush, SF Bay Area vocalist, music writer and band leader Paula Harris' new Speakeasy CD is a generous 16 song set (12 tracks + four bonus cuts). The album bustles with bluesy and jazz-flavored songs about bad boys and the women who find them irresistible. However, there is a lot more going on here than simply good girls going bad. Taken collectively, Harris' Speakeasy weaves a realistic episodic story of women actively making choices and accepting ...
read moreRobbie Robertson: Sinematic
Robbie Robertson's ongoing fascination with the dark(er) side of human nature, combined with his longstanding fascination with film, begs the question of why it took so long for him to fuse the two interests in a solo album. There are more than a few memorable moments scattered throughout approximately sixty minutes of music on Sinematic and to posit those in the vernacular of film criticism, the record might well receive high marks for special effects, kudos for some bit players ...
read moreSqueeze Live at the Tabernacle
Squeeze The Tabernacle Atlanta September 22, 2019 Squeeze emerged in the late-70s new wave rock scene but were always so much more than that implied. The band has long combined songwriting mastery which was comparable to that of the Beatles with a seamless amalgam of soul, blues, rock and even some jazzier flourishes (particularly in recent years). Unlike most of their peers, Squeeze never stopped evolving and manage the rare trick of updating ...
read moreThe Avett Brothers with special guest Lake Street Dive at The Barclays Center
The Avett Brothers with special guest Lake Street Dive The Barclays Center Brooklyn, NY October 5, 2019 The Avett Brothers' music is best described as a gumbo of Americana featuring a mélange of folk, pop, country and bluegrass with elements of rock and blues and a touch of jazz. Hailing from Mount Pleasant, NC, the Avett Brothers have been nominated for three Academy Awards and eight Americana Music Honors & Awards trophies. It has won ...
read moreTribe: Hometown: Detroit Sessions 1990 - 2014
Hot on the heels of jny: Detroit trombonist and co-founder of the Tribe Phil Ranelin's Phil Ranelin Collected 2003--2019 (Wide Hive, 2019), comes another funked up spiritual-jazz beauty from the collective. The music on both albums is about as good as jazz ever gets and, given the social divisions being encouraged by reactionary politicians on both sides of the Atlantic in 2019, both releases are particularly timely. The Tribe was founded by Ranelin and tenor saxophonist and clarinetist ...
read moreKelley Suttenfield: When We Were Young: Kelley Suttenfield Sings Neil Young
Although most jazz vocalists would shy away from an album's worth of rock tunes penned by Neil Young, Kelley Suttenfield tackles the task with aplomb on When We Were Young, providing skillful renditions of eleven cuts ranging from the well-known to a couple of the most obscure of Young's compositions. Suttenfield's low-key, insouciant delivery is a pleasant listen, and with a fine band in support and some smart arrangements, she generally succeeds in bringing her jazz-inflected style to Young's not-so-jazzy ...
read moreMercury Rev: All is Dream
"A year is just a drop in time." This is what singer Jonathan Donahue sang on “A Drop in Time," a song from Mercury Rev's celebrated album All Is Dream. It has now been eighteen drops or years since the band released the album in 2001 and now it's time for a reissue. Cherry Red Records has certainly done it with style. This edition contains the album and three additional CDs of extra material, including B-Sides, sessions, ...
read moreOctober Blue Note 50th's, Eddie Palmieri and More
Blue Note 50th anniversary salutes from October 1969 by guitarist Grant Green, Reuben Wilson, Lee Morgan, Duke Pearson with Airto and Bobby Hutcherson with voices. We also feature tracks from La Perfecta II by Eddie Palmieri, who performed in Baton Rouge earlier this week. Along the way: vocalist Aimee Allen, Eddie Harris (from his first date with legendary guitarist Joe Diorio), Thelonious Monk solo and a groove out the door with Chicago's Soul Message Band. Enjoy the show!
read moreGo: Organic Orchestra and Brooklyn Raga Massive at Painted Bride Art Center
Go: Organic Orchestra and Brooklyn Raga MassivePainted Bride Art Centerjny: Philadelphia, PAOctober 6, 2019 While Philadelphia's Painted Bride Art Center has been presenting jazz, improvised and/or experimental music for half a century, it's still entirely possible this was the most sweepingly wide, boundary-defying cross-cultural performance the venue has ever seen. The sizable and amorphous Go: Organic Orchestra collective already serves up a fascinating kind of severe culture shock on its own, as demonstrated in several ...
read moreRecollections of an Oslo experience
Oslo has its week-long Jazz Festival taking place in mid-August at Sentralen and various locations from bar to church to opera house and university auditorium in the Norwegian capital. This already indicates something of the variety of the presented music. This year's edition has been the last one under the thirteen-year aegis of bassist and festival director Edvard Askeland. He will be succeeded by Øyvind Skjerven Larsen, not a stranger to the international jazz world through his manifold national and ...
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